What I learned from Bhishma

At a time when there is no dearth of historical or mythological serials on the television, Star Plus went on to produce yet another version of Mahabharata. And they made it big – making it India's most expensive TV series – spent close to 100 crore as per statistics disclosed in September 2013. The producer of the show commented that it took him nearly 20 days to shoot the most iconic scene – "Draupadi's cheerharan" due to the grandeur that needed to be created. Since both, my wife and I grew up watching BR Chopra's – then state-of-the-art, now lackluster – retelling of Mahabharata, often find the current TV series appalling for various reasons. The topmost being the time spent in bringing out the emotions during the 'most iconinc scene rather event'. Definitely this is the turning point in the history which started the avalanche brining the entire India to a halt. This event is also a reminder of shame.

While we kept discussing the efficacy of the epic and its retelling, I always watch it with the curiosity of a kid. And alas, I found my golden nugget yesterday!

The scene was of Bhishma plundering the Pandava army and Arjun refusing to cause any harm to him as Bhishma is his elder. Inspite of being advised by Krishna, Arjuna was not ready to raise weapons against Bhishma. Bhishma, on the other hand agitates Krishna and keeps on with his attack on the Pandava army. Rightfully, there is no match for him. Also equipped with the boon of immortality from his father, Bhishma is invincible. Krishna took an oath prior to the war that he would not fight in the Mahabharata war as he supported both Kauravas and Pandavas in different capacities. Bhishma took opportunity of this oath of Sri Krishna and continues to agitate him. Finally, Krishna took the wheel of a chariot and ran towards Bhishma as if to chop his head using the Sudarshan chakra. At this time, there is an interesting dialog in between the two which intrigues me.

Bhishma asks Krishna for what he did wrong to cause Krishna break his oath and run to kill him? Bhishma goes on to say that all his life he followed the promise provided to his father, and caring only for the betterment of the throne of Hastinapur. Bhishma asks that "Is giving up every personal aspiration is a crime? Is following my promise a crime? Is protecting the rule established by my ancestors a crime? Then for which crime am I being punished?"

Imagine Krishna's answers!

Krishna answered "To follow one promise, you gave up on your all your karma. To follow the dharma you gave up on karma. What was needed was to follow the karma, and leave out the expectation from the same. Your crime is to stop the nature taking its regular course. Your crime is to follow the promise even when the times changed. Your crime is to follow the promise when the entire system failed. Your crime is to make follow is to follow your own duties, rather than enforcing others to perform their duties as well. Your crime is that you lived for yourself and did everything to make yourself upright. Your crime is not to think about other's dharma". Krishna then reminded Bhishma of the various extremities subjected to others to help him keep his promises – to princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika; to princess Gandhari; to Draupadi by keeping quiet in his reverent duty to the throne; and later when Duryodhana refused to give Pandavas what was rightfully theirs. Krishna accuses Bhishma to have turned away from his duties just to follow one promise. Bhishma had shied away from the harsh decisions that were needed at the appropriate times to have steered the mankind for a better future.

Doing the right things is not always the correct option. Doing the appropriate thing which is considerate of everyone is most important. Never turn away from your duties. Leaders are born when decisions are taken. It's the leaders who take the decisions, followers only follow the decisions. Decisions may be right or wrong. Their responsibility lies with the leader. Hence, the win or the loss is said to be of the leader and not of the follower. Never shy away from the decisions you have to take.

The world is all yours. Don't shape it like Bhishma. He was great, but selfish. Please don't be so.

Have you asked the question - WHY?

Time and again I have questioned the purpose of the happenings around us or even my own actions. Many a times, I have been able to find a suitable answer and sometimes I have suited myself to the answer that came to me and moved on. My teachers in college and school always complained that I lost my focus quite easily ad went too deep looking for meanings when others kept moving higher. Probably, I never grew as fast as them because of my questioning why. But ask yourself the importance of the question "Why?"
The importance of the purpose in everything we do is critical. The purpose is what defines the path taken in the journey. A very famous quote of all times is that life is but a journey and we all need to travel it tirelessly till the last breath. Sure we do. But how? What path do we take, what companions we shall have, what company we shall keep, what shall we see and what we will choose to avoid – all of this depends upon what we want to experience during the journey. Even when the destination is known, the path taken or the mode of transport shall define the journey.
Have you seen the rangoli made by the south Indian women outside of their homes? It is a geometrical pattern of dots connected by lines – constrained by only two principles – cover as many dots possible and never take off your hand while drawing the lines. Sometimes, the number of dots is more and sometimes, the colors used. No two designs are ever the same. While the mission statement and the objective statements are both defined clearly for them, yet the outcome are very different. Ever wondered why? The design patterns, the colors used and their complex arrangements represent the thoughts churning in their mind. It's the journey they take from the dots to the rangoli depending upon the state of mind.
If only the life was simple as start to end, or there were only two colors – black or white, the management principles would have been great. But someone actually described multiple shades of grey! And went on to mix multiple other colors and played with hue, saturation and other factors to make it incomprehensible to a human eye.
A very basic fact of the management is anything that is measurable, can be managed. In order to manage, every measurable factor is considered and it optimized within acceptable limits. Any factor falling outside of the acceptable limits needs to be controlled. The question is – What is acceptable? Who determines the limits? It is the purpose of the act that will help us determine the acceptable outcome.
To make the matters worse, the purpose may seem different for everyone. It is the perspective that one takes with what they want to do. An interesting parallel from the Indian Scriptures is summed as follows (Thans to Dr Devdutt Pattnaik) –

Quality	I follow all the rules	I will break all the rules
What I think of myself	Rama	Krishna
What the superiors thinks of me	Duryodhana	Ravana
Why the difference	Duryodhana is the pretender – who follows all the rules but never accepts them. Typically a professional, who abides by the organization rules but may not agree to them.	Ravana is an epitome of a non-follower and a rulebreaker. While Krishna broke the rules that lost their meaning, Ravana chooses the blanket statement – All rules are meant for breaking.

 
Without the "Y-" axis of the purpose, all of the characters look the same. It is the purpose and the philosophy behind the act that differentiates them.
Please do ask yourself the purpose, or try answer the question "WHY"

Rejuvenation

We were celebrating our daughter's birthday over the weekend. She chose to enjoy the day with her friends in the water park. While playing in the water park, I accidently pulled the lever on one of the taps and a jet of cold water soaked me and my mind almost immediately. My very lovely daughters offered a facial for me to help revitalize my facial tissues later that day. The water and the facial left me thinking of something that had always amused me and troubled me at the same time.

Years ago, when I was a little kid, I visited Sri Shravanabelagola – a small city in Karnataka, close to both Mysore and Bangalore. The city is a famous pilgrimage center in Jainism for the statue of Gomateswara Bahubali. Every twelve years, the giant statue is bathed in water, milk, sugarcane juice, saffron paste and is sprinkled with powders of vermillion, sandalwood and turmeric.

Later, I visited Jatipura – one of the many villages around Mathura – a place associated with the advent of SriNath Ji and also the place where the people of Braj offered their worship to Lord Govardhana upon instructions of Sri Krishna. At Jatipura, every morning devotees offer buckets of milk and water to bathe the lord in the hope that their demands shall be met by the lord himself.

Every year, during Janmashtami, Sri Krishna idols are bathed in various ways common being water, milk, oil and honey.

Observing all the rituals I have often been appalled by the wastage of the resources in the name of belief at a time when many are deprived of their bare minimum hunger needs. I have often asked the question on the necessity of the pompous show and the prodigal use of the resources that could have been utilized elsewhere?

After all these years, I have realized that this is the belief system of many and possibly I shall not be able to modify the same. However, if a conscious effort is done to understand the symbolism and the meaning behind the ritual, the human kind may be benefitted.

Each of the above acts of belief symbolize the act of rejuvenation or rejoice. We bathe the statues symbolizing washing away all the wrong doings that the God has taken away from us and helping him revive himself to come again with new vigor. Every time the idols are bathed, they are said to have reorganized themselves and our belief in them. Drawing a parallel here, it is quite similar to us taking a bath every morning to feel fresh and infused with new energy. Almost every time the bath is followed by "Abhishek" or anointing and sprinkling of herbs. This symbolizes recognition of the grown mental state. Remember humans have a bigger head as compared to animals as they have a better developed mind. And the expansion of the mind is what leads the humans to divinity. The ritual of abhisheka recognizes the well developed and grown mind. This is similar to the house hold ritual of applying tilak on the forehead before starting any important work. The tilak symbolizes a reminder to grow the mind.

So, the rituals were started for a reason – a good cause. However, our execution of those rituals turned them into monstrous criminal acts. And yet, the popular thought is to shun the rituals and anything related to religion or our history without understanding the meaning. What are we doing? Are we avoiding the sin or are we committing the sin in a new name? Or are we performing ablutions through the pompous display of devotion?

The God never wanted greatness in offerings. All he wanted was truth and knowledge in heart. Why else did Rama ate the fruits at Shabari' hut? Why else did Krishna refused the grand reception in Hastinapur and dined with Vidur?

In my views, physical rejuvenation happens through our daily schedules and activities. A mental rejuvenation is required. It is an act which we all need to go through and experience. Unfortunately, it cannot be measured or recorded. However, the easiest form is introspection.

So what are you rejuvenating?

Think, seek answers and think again.

A twisted ode to the monsoon

Now that monsoon has entered India and is all set to advance further, I thought it apt to share my twisted ode to rains. Please note that this in no sense a subliming of their importance. Hope you shall get the message as you go through the words -

मुझे  बारिशों से प्रेम है
यह प्रेम  सन्देश लाती हैं।
तन -मन का मैल धोती हैं
दुःख दूर कर सुख लाती हैं।
धरा के ह्रदय ज्वाला शांत करती हैं
धरतीपुत्रों को जीवन दान देती हैं।
सर्वत्र हरियाली का सन्देश देती हैं
 और प्रेमी इन मेघदूतों को देख प्रसन्न हो उठते हैं।

एक रोज बारिश आई थी
निर्मम निरंतर बारिश।
सर्वत्र अँधेरा, सर्वत्र नीर
देखने से लगता मानो यहीं है क्षीर।
सब कुछ बहा ले गयी वह बारिश
पेड़, पौधे, ढोर, डंगर सब।
 उन्हें भी जो बारिश का स्वागत  करते थे,
नाच गा कर मन में उमंग भरते थे।
यह बारिश सब बहा ले गयी,
तुम्हें भी।

 अब मुझे बारिशों से घृणा है।
इसका काम सिर्फ बहाना है।
इसमें भीगने का जो रस है ,
वह मात्र एक छलावा है।
इसके चले जाने पर हाथ कुछ नहीं आता है,
कपड़ों के साथ मन भी निचुड़ जाता है।
रह जाती है  टीस,
एक मिलन की,
एक खालीपन की।
इसी बारिश में तुम बह गए,
जीवन भर तड़पाने को अपनी यादें छोड़ गए। 

Upanishads – their formation and crux

The Upanishads are a collection of Vedic texts, also known as Vedanta and are considered to contain the revealed truths about the ultimate reality – brahman and the character and the form of human salvation – moksha. While more than 200 Upanishads are known, the first dozen are considered to be the oldest and the most important, thus referred to as principal or mukhya Upanishads.

Ever guessed when and how were they formed?

So the story dates back to Sri Rama's father Dasharatha. Dasharatha had a daughter – Shanta – elder to Sri Rama. When the kingdom of Anga faced severe draught the king Rompada approached Dashratha and offered to adopt Shanta and marry her off to Sage Rishyashringa. This was to break Rishyashringa's celibacy and his father Vibhandaka's urge to control nature. Vibhandaka had realized the cycle of life and how the new life was created through the seed. He realized that no living beings had control over shedding their seed except humans. He understood that through holding the life bearing seed inside the human body, one can create great power in oneself. This is controlling the nature and rising above the mad race that nature imposes on every living being. The self control is known as Tapasya and it generates Tapa or heat. So strong was Vibhandaka's tapasya that Indra had send an apsara to break him. Vibhandaka couldn't control himself when he saw the apsara. He considered his son as a result of his failure and hence kept him close away from the world and women. Not only he controlled himself, he controlled his son's nature too. Their controlling of the nature caused enough heat and caused draught all over the region where they lived. Rompada requested Shanta to woo Rishyashringa and break this control and bring rains to the kingdom. Rishyashringa and Shanta married, brought joy upon themselves and the nearby kingdoms. Rishyashringa later helped Dashratha in the yagna to get sons. And thus Rama, Bharat, Lakshmana and Shatrughna were born. At every step, we see how the nature was controlled or was made to change its course to meet the needs of the king and the people.

About the same time of the birth of the princes in Ayodhya, Janak of Mithila found a daughter in Sita and his wife Sunaina gave birth to Urmila. His brother Khushdhwaja also had two daughters – Mandavi and Shrutakirti. While everyone in Janaka's court requested him to conducted yagna to obtain sons just like Dashratha, he replied that mother earth gave him a daughter in the same manner as the fire gave Dashratha his sons. Impressed with his approach, a female ascetic Sulabha approached Janaka and requested him to conduct a congregation of learned people all over the land. She explained to Janaka that humans have the capability to imagine and think and take different perspectives on the same point! She explained that the mind should be expanded to understand nature than control it by containing it as Vibhandaka and Rishyashringa did. Inspired by her words, Janaka invited all the learned people and rishis of Aryavarta to his court and share their knowledge of Vedas. This conference allowed exchange of ideas, opinions and beliefs and thus formed the basis of what we today known as Upanishads. It is interesting to note that this was the education that Sita and her sisters received. It was during this conference that we also hear about Ashtavakra, Gargi and Yagnavalkya. Gargi asked questions about pupose of everything that irked many sages and they cursed her that her head would fall off. But her hunger of knowledge kept growing another head when one fell off.

During the conference, Yagnavalkya explained – "Atma is the brahman, a fully expanded mind. Atma is the mind that does not fear death or yearn for life. It does not seek validation. It witnesses the world as it is. Atma is Ishwar, also known as Shiva, who performs tapasya, is self-contained and self-sufficient. Atma is bhagavan, also known as Vishnu, who conducts a yagna to nourish everyone even though he needs no nourishment. May Brahma's head keep falling off till he finds the brahman".

This retelling has been adopted from Dr Devdutta Pattnaik's book – "Sita". In my wake for learning, I hope I found something that we all can benefit from.

Change comes from within

During the twelve years of exile, the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi roamed around different forests and came in contact with many sages. The sages helped them by telling stories of their ancestors and of importance that had far reaching impact on their thoughts. In a way, the sages were helping the Pandavas grow as leaders. In their early years, with all the education and fun, the Pandavas had grown to be good warriors, administrators and providers. The exile years are considered as the bridge between the princes to the common man that gave birth to great rulers. However, the sages were not the only ones to have taught the Pandavas.

In the period of exile, Arjuna once met a forest dweller Kirata, who challenged Arjuna to show his skill and claim the prize. Despite using all his skills, Arjuna could not come close to Kirata. Finally, Arjuna realized that he was no ordinary human being and prays the Kirata to reveal his true being. Upon surrendering himself, Arjuna then realizes the Kirata to be Shiva who taught him the lesson of humility. Later Shiva praised Arjuna and gifted him his own "Pashupatastra".

In another story, Bhima once brought a divine looking flower to Draupadi in his attempt to appease her. She is pleased but demand more flowers of this kind. The sages suggested that the flowers came from the heavenly lake up above the mountains. Bhima climbed the mountains in search of the flowers. On his way he found an old monkey lying on the path. Since it is considered rude to walk over someone, Bhima asked the monkey to move away. The monkey requested Bhima instead, telling him of his ill health. Bhima who is considered by all and himself the mos powerful of all, could not move even the monkey's tail. Having realized that the monkey is not ordinary, Bhima prayed to the monkey. It was no other than Hanuman who had come to teach the lesson of humbleness to Bhima.

One day while wandering in the forest, Draupadi saw a jamun tree and one mouthwatering ripe jamun fruit close to the ground. Instinctively, Draupadi reached out and plucked the jamun. As she did so, the tree cried as to what had she done? The tree was holding the fruit for 12 years for the sage who had been meditating without food or water for nearly the same time. The sage was to wake up from his meditation this day and eat the fruit. Now Draupadi deprived the sage of the fruit, he waited for twelve years. Draupadi asked her husbands to help put the jamun back in its place. But no one could. The tree again said, Draupadi could do so if she was chaste and was true to her husbands. Much to the astonishment of the Pandavas, they realized Draupadi harboring a secret in her heart. She spoke of her yearning for Karna. Had she not insulted Karna and married him, all the insults to her would have been saved. Pandavas though angry about her secret, were ashamed of having failed her collectively. Hence kept quiet. As Draupadi shared her thoughts and having cleansed her heart, she was chaste again and was able to fix the fruit back in its place.

Bhima was once captured by a python who kept encircling him and wanted to eat him. The python knew how to speak. He said that he was looking for Yudhishthra as he can provide answers to the queries and absolve him of his sins. The python was King Nahusha. When Yudhishthira came to Bhima's help, Nahusha posed him the question – "Who is a Brahman". Yudhishthira thought and replied "A Brahman is one who has mastered his senses, disciplined his mind and learnt Brahma-Vidya, who has attained knowledge of infinite eternal and boundless soul. A brahman is one who is content, generous, and gentle and is always with truth. He may or may not be the one who is born to a Brahman."

In another story, four of the pandava brothers collapsed on the ban of an enchanted lake. They refused to acknowledge the lake's guardian and tried to quench their thirst. Yudhisthira acknowledged the guardian and answered the questions wisely. (We will delve into the questions in the later blog). The guardian was no other than the god of dharma – Yama. At the end, Yama asked him to choose one brother whose life could be granted. Yudhisthira thought again and asked for Nakula. His reason being Nakula was the son of Madri and hence both the wives of Pandu shall have one of their sons living. Yudhishthira had not shown the same thought during the game of dice. He had gambled Madri's sons in the first chance. He had not even thought of any consequences earlier. Clearly something had changed!

All of the above stories, humbled and taught the Pandavas. They changed, matured and became better during their period of exile.

Some say the stories are a work of fiction. Some even laugh at the events or characters in the story.

But look at the idea carried in each story. What we learn from here is that the change comes from within. All the external factors or situations are the triggers that help us understand the need for the change. It is us who have to change and we decide how much and how? We control our own destiny through the path we choose. Its not the situations but us who decide how we fare. The success or the failure is always relative depending on one's perspective of the scenario and their decisions. At the same time, since one controls their destiny and only theirs, no one can change the world without changing oneself. Hence, in order to bring a change, one needs to change.

Karna’s Death

Mahabharata has many stories and many heroes. Some of the stories have been narrated to us from ages and are imbibed into our beliefs. However, there are a few stories that have lost the attention even though they have carried enormous amount of knowledge and meaning for all of us.

One such story is of the greatest warrior Karna. Karna’s archery skills were as illustrious as his teacher Parashurama and other students of his teacher – Bhishma and Dronacharya. Having learnt the art of war from Parashurama himself, he was second to none. His skills were noted even by Bhishma and Sri Krishna. He was acknowledged as undefeatable and surpassed Arjuna on many counts except one – Sri Krishna’s closeness. Along with being a great warrior he was a great man of principles too. Devotion and principles were just as great assets to himself as his weapons.

It was his devotion to his friendship that made him stand in the court of Hastinapur when Draupadi was disrobed. An act, that Karna regretted throughout his life. It was his devotion that kept him on the side of Duryodhana, despite all his wrongdoings and knowing that Pandavas were his brothers. At his death, Kunti and Sri Krishna told Pandavas to pay respect to their elder brother Karna.

Arjuna cried asked for forgiveness from Karna’s wife Uruvi and requested to perform the list rites for his brother. Uruvi, then asked Arcjuna not to mourn or repent for killing Karna for he was killed at least 6 times before Arjuna. Let’s see how -

 

Guru Parashurama’s curse

Once Parashurama rested in the forest keeping his head in Karna’s lap. At that time a bee started to bite and probe into Karna’s thigh. He sat unnerved even when the bee kept drilling him so as not to disturb his teacher’s sleep. When Parashuram woke up and saw the lacerating wound on Karna’s thigh, he became angry for Karna having hidden his identity of being Kshatriya or the warrior class as others are incapable of bearing such pain. He cursed Karna that he would forget all his knowledge just at the time he needed it most.

 

Angry Brahmin’s curse on killing of his cow

Once Karna was practicing his archery skills and shooting upon the slightest of sounds. During his practice, he mistakenly killed a brahmin’s old wailing cow. The Brahmin cursed Karna that just as his cow was helpless when she died, he shall be helpless at the time of his death.

 

Mother Earth’s curse

Once Karna saw a young girl crying in the village market. Upon asking she told that she was to buy ghee or vegetable oil and take it home. However, the pot fell down and the ghee was impure now. Even when Karna offered to buy a new pot, she insisted on the same impure ghee to be taken home. Karna then took the ghee from the ground and squeezed it hard to remove the impurities. The girl was happy to get what she wanted. But then Karna heard another woman’s gurgled cry. Upon opening the palms of his hand, he saw the mother earth or Bhudevi being strangled through his squeeze. She then cursed Karna that she shall squeeze hold him and he would be stuck in the earth sometime.

 

Indra stripping Karna of his kavacha and kundala

It is well known that Karna was the son of the Sun or Surya. While Arjun was the son of Indra. Karna was born with an undefeatable armor and earrings as gift from Sun god which protected him from all evil. When it was inevitable that Krana and Arjuna would see each other in duel and there would only be one survivor, Indra plotted to strip Karna of his armor and earrings. A man of principles and generosity, Karna never allowed anyone to return empty-handed from his home in the morning. Indra disguised as a Brahmin visited him just then and asked for the gifts from the Sun god. Despite being warned by the sun, Karna did not deviate from his principles and gave what the Brahmin asked for. And thus he became vulnerable to Arjuna’s weapons.

 

Kunti’s love for her son

Kunti was Karna and the rest of Pandava’s mother. However she hid the fact of Karna’s birth all the time to save her own skin. When the Mahabharata war was inevitable and Karna was identified as an undefeatable warrior on the Kaurava side, she went upto Karna and told him the story of his birth. Karna always had a soft corner for his mother and always wanted her to accept as her child. He wanted to tell the world that he was indeed a warrior class and not a shudra. In his love for Kunti, he promised that Kunti shall always have 5 sons and he would not harm anyone but Arjuna. Thus at the end of the war either he or Arjuna shall be the survivors.

This was a great promise from Karna to Kunti. Apparently, this was not enough for Kunti. She also took another promise from Karna – possibly the most dreaded one. She asked him never to use the same weapon twice. Thus even when he was gaining an upper hand at Arjuna, he could not use his godly weapons as his promise to Kunti prevented him.

 

Shalya’s role

Shalya was a great charioteer. He was in fact a master of horses. He was also Nakul and Sahdev’s maternal uncle under whose supervision, Nakul became a great horseman. Shalya never wanted to be charioteer to Karna considering him to have born in the lower caste. Upon insistence from Duryodhana, he accepted the job half-heartedly. He was supposed to be equal to Krishna’s skills in guiding the chariot. Even though, Shalya admired Karna’s devotion to his friend, war principles and bravery he refused to help when Karna’s chariot was stuck in the earth during the final battle.

All the six anecdotal stories exemplify one super power above everything – destiny. We all try our best and do our best too. But, sometimes it is not enough. Call it “Karma” or “destiny” or “god’s will” there is something beyond which controls and overpowers everything. What is it?